Is your school running GCSE revision sessions this holiday?

[TalkinPeace]

I just dropped DD off for her three lessons today and over half of year 11 were there for various subjects.

The teachers are giving up their holiday, the school is keeping the buildings open, the kids are going in.
Hopefully the grades will reflect that effort.

On my way home I passed the sink school.
No signs of life at all.
No evidence of pupils or teachers in the car park or the building.

Surely the failing school should make MORE of an effort?

True. Somehow managed to temporarily forget the epic GCSE tampering shenanigans this year.

Which mark schemes were altered? Not maths. English probably, but you said your DD had three lessons today?

They should, in an ideal world - but we don't live in an ideal world, do we?

And at the Outstanding school I teach at, we are not open for revision sessions in the holidays.

The kids were all provided with everything they need for independent study before the holiday (and are in email contact if needed).

I also hate the implication that the teachers at the so called 'sink' school are not working hard enough.

I remember doing GCSEs. Coursework was done in our own time, and we handed it in on time or it wasn't graded. Revision was done in our own time. Our teachers taught the lessons they should, and that was it. No extra revision sessions after school, no extra coursework help, nothing. We did fine.

Now - extra revision sessions after school, coursework 'days' during the Easter holiday to help them finish it, etc etc. And do you know what? Having helped my friend's DC with her English this year, I had to explain the Russian revolution to her so she could understand Animal Farm. How she was supposed to have a clue in her exams, having no idea of the history behind it, I have no idea! We've also done punctuation, basic grammar, poetry study (she had no idea of what to look for, or how a poem worked really) and many other things. She tries hard, listens in class and was in tears over poor 'mock' results at the start of 2014 because she tries SO hard yet she didn't understand the exam questions.

noble
DD has three sessions today, cannot remember which subjects - they are drop in type stuff with foundation early in the session, core at the middle and higher at the end

English was messed with as was one of her non academic subjects as has been some of the further maths emphasis

The teacher that really impresses me is the one who got back from an overseas school trip at 2am this morning and was running a session this morning - she's lovely but quite mad!

Is it a new innovation this year OP? Maybe it is more of a morale boosting exercise?

Having come back from revision sessions this afternoon (and all week so far, unpaid 4 hours a day) I can certainly say that to an outside observer, lots of pupils walking into the school, with school bags, would have looked good. Appearances can be deceived.

I can assure you that not a lot of productivity was going on by all and I spent my time trying to chase kids to give then a free revision booklet I had spent hours writing, (as they did not come and collect them when asked) or tell them to revise and stop gossiping, eating, playing music etc. and disturbing those few and far between pupils who really did want to revise away from home or ask for questions, get past papers etc. I teach in a selective Grammar school if that helps to put into context.

I can also assure you that it is compulsory in a lot of schools, unless you don't want your performance management to be passed, don't want your pupils to exceed their made up targets and not have an awkward 'talk' with your line manager after Easter. This is due to the perception (that is evident in the OP) that this means that the school are doing a lot more to help the pupils and will help to please parents/governors etc. Quite often, all it does is show the pupils who have been bone idle all year, that they will be given extra support and not allowed to fail. Doesn't bode well for future employment and/or university studies.

My elder boys are yr 10 and yr7 so no extra classes for them but there have been for yr11 from 9-5! And the yr 11 already have a longer school day.

I also got a letter to tell me that as from Sept the school day will be until 5pm three days a week for 'enrichment'.. By the time my boys get home (bus) it will be 6pm then dinner, shower,homework etc What bloody time do they have to chill? They are in bed 8:30-9pm as they have to be up at 6:30am to be out by 7:30 to catch the bus for school!

Longer school day is compulsory, there are some meetings we can go to to discuss what the enrichment sessions will be,so much for any choice or parent/school relationship this is what's happening in Sept end of.

And I am betting the teachers won't be paid any more for these extra hours.

DD's school, not a sink school, doesn't offer any classes during the holidays, which I completely agree with. I don't think compulsory classes are helpful to a lot of the students, although if the teachers are good enough to offer their free time to do these classes, I would support a drop in session where kids that wanted to could attend if they had a particular problem they wanted to sort.

DD's school do lunchtime revision sessions, which are advertised as open to all, but if the top sets turn up, they are apparently encouraged to leave!

Doesn't bode well for future employment and/or university studies.

Quite.

Sorry you are being made to play along with an emptyish exercise Kitty. We have to stop treating our excellent teachers like this.

Not sure about this.
I have grumbled on here that DS has had after school sessions 3 to 4 days a week since September. So his teachers (bog standard comp) can hardly be accused of slacking or not putting in the effort.
Nothing during these holidays though, everyone needs a break.
I do think it's worth considering that learning to self study is hugely important preparation for A levels.

It is not Easter holidays yet here, but as far as I know there are no sessions scheduled in the holidays. Lots of after school drop-in sessions have been running, which should be more than enough.

I don't think teachers should be teaching during holidays unless we start to pay them for it.

I really hate the way that people are increasingly expected to work for free in areas that should be paid for. Unpaid overtime and the 'necessity' of internships to get jobs undermines everybody's right to a decent wage.

I will be doing a controlled assessment one day in the holiday, for students who have not yet achieved a high mark in the previous two attempts, or who were absent for part of the previous attempts (quite a lot...)

I will be doing a revision conference for invited students during next half term, because working with small groups is more effective in addressing specific issues.

I sincerely hope these students will do better with my intervention than without. Schools like mine, with an intake significantly below average, and with subjects still judged in RAISEonline on A*-C passes, are understandably reluctant to leave students to their independent study, and need "overinflated" grades in order to avoid the blue...

Hmm.
OK
I am convinced that these sessions are almost certainly going to be used as a stick to beat teachers with

• by heads
• by parents
• by Gove the moron

If it is the case that teachers who say "actually my mocks were OK, the kids have revision work for the holiday" get penalised, that is wrong.

And scarily, the sink school will sink further because parents will keep voting with their feet to schools that appear to put in more effort, and thus motivated kids will depart.

I will be chuffed if DD gets the increment grades that she is attending for
but not pleased if its at the expense of staff turnover to affect DS in a couple of years.

Maybe I should go for that parent governor post and have some input at policy level.

Schools like mine, with an intake significantly below average, and with subjects still judged in RAISEonline on A-C passes, are understandably reluctant to leave students to their independent study*

That makes sense, for a school such as yours and I'm sure your efforts are important and worthwhile.

Generally speaking though, it smacks of presenteeism and PR. I think the OP's analysis is pretty shrewd.

Son had hour sessions after school term time. Some extra long session three hours break with food included. (Not every week) during this they have a change of teacher to mix it up a bit

They not on for easter. Been given booklets to do. They need to have somtime to chill as well. He doing d of e training this week end. So he wull be able to focus on something else
His sisters have been through it already
Just need to make sure you allow them free time not just revise revise. Child can only do there best.

I feel very negative about the fact that in future years I'm likely to have to run these sessions during my break in order to be in with a chance of a pay rise.
I really hope the kids in my classes do well, but in all honestly they won't as they have failed to take any part of their GCSEs seriously so far and as such I will have to a explain why results are poor

Our school is running revision sessions (they have for at least the last three years), but I'm not sure they're compulsory for the teachers - they certainly aren't for the girls. Dd3 will be there tomorrow morning, DD2 in the afternoon.
We live 25 miles from school, so it'll mean a whole day out for me, but I figure that if the teachers are giving up their time for my kids then the least I can do is make sure DDs turn up! They've always found them really useful anyway, so are happy to go in.

I am very impressed by the dedication of the staff at your school Talkin but unfortunately this does take the onus away from the students and then becomes expected. This is why students expect to be spoonfed in higher education. I would run these revision classes for borderline C/D students and those who have study issues but not for those aiming for A/A* as it will do them a disservice in the long run. I also agree that it is a long haul until the exams and surely both teachers and pupils need a break.

In light of this thread I asked a few questions.

Each department was asked to run the sessions they felt they needed, with the staff they needed.
So no individual teacher had to be in.
Certain departments have run lots of sessions.
One core, compulsory department has run absolutely none - but has sessions lined up for after classes stop next term.

One teacher specifically said that the school had made it worth her while to come in - and she's retiring so does not give a stuff about pay grades.

So in the case of my school, the worst fears are unfounded
BUT
I totally accept that in many other schools it will be much nastier.

How do you do a controlled assessment in one day, FallenMadonna? I seem to remember DS angsting for weeks over his!

Ours is a "good" school,gets excellent results,revision sessions happen after school, at lunch, in pe and art ( which has finished), no revision sessions this Easter, kids have comprehensive revision packs, revision timetables etc. teachers are on their knees, kids feeling it too, so pleased that that extra pressure isn't there.

It was me who went in yesterday only for the students not to turn up (still seeth